Report: How Post-2020 Election Interference Laws may Shape 2024 Election

Legislative power grabs, problematic election reviews, hand counts, and more will be tested for the first time 

New election interference laws are going to be put to the test for the first time in a presidential election this November. Across the country, state legislators have enacted laws to expand their own power over elections, increase the likelihood of politically-motivated reviews of election results, and penalize election officials for doing their jobs, according to a new report from Voting Rights Lab.

The report, The Shapeshifting Threat of Election Interference: How State Legislatures Are Refining Their Efforts to Manipulate Elections, details some of the most significant threats to a fair and free election in 2024. Even as election interference legislation has declined after peaking in 2022, nearly 80 new laws will present new challenges to election officials and voters alike – and another 94 bills remain pending in legislatures throughout the country. For states at the forefront of this year’s presidential contest, including Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, efforts to interfere in a fair election this November could prove to be pivotal. 

“Some state lawmakers have worked hard to consolidate power and interfere in nonpartisan election administration since 2020. In pivotal states that will determine the 2024 presidential election, those efforts could pose major challenges before, on, and even after Election Day,” said Liz Avore, senior policy advisor for Voting Rights Lab and primary author for the report. “But election officials have proven adept at responding to these threats, and they continue to respond. Their work to guarantee a fair, free, and secure election in 2024 continues – even in the face of threats, harassment, and intimidation from lawmakers and others.”

Key developments to monitor include:

• A new Georgia law enabling mass challenges to voter registrations. Roughly 100,000 of these challenges were filed in 2022 – 89% by just six individuals.
• A North Carolina law that could deadlock both election certification and early voting plans. This law is currently blocked by a court order, but the decision has been appealed.
• County-level hand counts that threaten both the accuracy and the timeliness of election results. One Texas county attempted a hand count that took more than 200 volunteers 21 hours to count all of the ballots, with 12 of the 13 county precincts reporting incorrect vote totals on their official reconciliation forms.
• Two Texas laws asserting state control over local election administration in Harris County, home to Houston. Lawmakers eliminated the position of election administrator in Harris County, and additionally provided administrative oversight over Harris County elections to the secretary of state.

This report leverages Voting Rights Lab’s Election Policy Tracker, the leading resource for tracking and analyzing election legislation across all 50 states since the 2020 presidential election. Click here to receive weekly updates from our Tracker and the team of researchers and policy experts behind this report.

To view our full report online, click here.

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Voting Rights Lab is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that brings state policy and legislative expertise to the fight for voting rights. We work in partnership with organizations across the country to secure, protect, and defend the voting rights of all Americans. And we track voting laws and legislation in all 50 states at tracker.votingrightslab.org.

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